Report of the Engineer of the Eastern Shore Railroad

Washington City, November 10, 1836.

To the Commissioners appointed to survey the route of the Eastern Shore Rail Road:

Gentlemen, -- Of the various surveys which have been made under your direction for the purpose of ascertaining the best route for a rail road on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, conformably to the several acts and resolutions of December session, 1835, the one which I have selected as the basis of the preliminary estimates, begins at the Wilmington and Susquehanna Rail Road, near the town of Elkton, and continuing throughout its whole course within the state, crosses the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal a few hundred yards west of the pivot bridge, and after passing a little to the west of the head of Bohemia and Sassafras River, thence by the head of Chester or Millington, and the head of Choptank or Greensborough, and by the North West Branch eastward of the Bloomery, to the Nanticoke River which it crosses between Sharp-
town and the Delaware line. From the Nanticoke, it follows a very direct course to Princess Anne, whence it diverges south-westwardly to the mouth of Little Annemesic River, on Tangier Sound, its terminus. Its total length is 118 1/4 miles.

The purpose of this communication limits me very cursorily to remark, in relation to the character of the line, that for lowness of grade and directness of communication, I know of no road of its length by any means comparable to it. The grades rarely reach, and never exceed twenty-one feet to the mile, and this only, on very few miles of its length in Cecil County, and at the crossing of the principal water courses. On much the greater part of the route, the grades do not attain one half that rate per mile.

Between the points of passage of the rives above named, the lines were intended to be traced perfectly straight, and so far as this was practicable in an experimental survey, it has been done. They are very oblique to each other, and the curves by which they are to be connected, need in no case be of less radius than one mile, and for nearly one hundred miles of the route, very probably of not less than five miles radius.

The annexed estimate is founded, on the facts collected during the experimental survey, and although it was not supposed that this would follow the best ground, the stations were nevertheless taken at 300 feet apart, where the surface of the country was nearly level, and at 200 feet or less, where it became undulating or broken -- this is mentioned to show that the quantities stated in the estimate, are not assumed without careful inquiry. The other elements of the estimate are as follows, viz. the road-bed to be formed for a single track, except at the embankments, where it is to receive a breadth of 20 feet at the crossing of the principal creeks and rivers. The viaducts to be of the best timber, and to have a breadth of 20 feet of flooring. The rails to be of 2 1/4 by 5/8 inch iron, resting on wooden string pieces, 6 by 6 inches, and 10 by 12 inch sleepers, all of the very best quality. The cost of materials and workmanship generally are assumed at the highest current prices, and wherever in framing the estimate of road-bed and bridges there was a doubt as to quantity or value, the sum taken was a maximum, and the price of the iron is that for which it is offered by a most respectable house. I am warranted, therefore, I think, in assuring the Commissioners, that the amount of the estimate need not be exceeded in the construction of the road.

Ample provision it is believed is also made for the transportation upon the road, and for connecting it with the great stream of southern travel, which seeking its way to the north will find this in connection with the ports of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and with the rivers of the south-western part of the Chesapeake Bay, a safe and convenient as well as a very expeditious, and at all times too, and uninterrupted channel of communication.

In the present state of our statistical information we are unable to present other than general views of the business which may be expected to come upon the road. It is, however, mainly to the transportation of passengers, that this, as well as all other railways, not directly in connection with great mineral regions, are to look for profitable returns upon the capital invested, and it is to this source the friends of the road may with the most undoubting confidence turn themselves.

From the southern seaboard, the country bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, the lower Mississippi and its tributaries, and from all the country which lies south and south-west of the states of Virginia and Kentucky, the number of travellers who annually seek the north in pursuit of business, of health, or of recreation, and who again return back upon the south, is absolutely incalculable; along the navigable water courses, they are seen to crowd the numerous steam boats, and on the seaboard, the packet vessels are fully occupied. During the boating season, the traveling from the south and south-west is almost altogether by steam boats, notwithstanding the acknowledged danger and delays incident to this mode of journeying, west of the mountains. When this season is past, the traveller has no other course, whether he proceeds to the north or returns southwardly, than to take the ports of the Gulf, or to cross the mountains, and journey by the valley of the Tennessee, and thence home. The later course is often preferred, and the number of travellers, and the quantity of goods also by that route, often greatly exceeds the means of conveyance. Nearer the seaboard, the condition of the traveller upon the road is not more enviable, and the voyage by the coast is beset with some danger, and much discomfort. Conscious of this condition of things, the intelligent men of the south and west are using every effort to awaken and direct enterprise. From the Gulf of Mexico, roads are in contemplation, or are already undertaken, the prolongation of which, must be through the principal towns of the interior of the western termination of the Portsmouth and Roanoke Rail Road. With these projects are and will be connected, others to lead to the commercial capitals of those states, and from the Mississippi, others will proceed by the way of Georgia, by the valley of the Tennessee, or more directly by Knoxville, and all them uniting with the great line of communication which I have just mentioned; all of them directing themselves towards the Roanoke. By the valley of the Roanoke also, and of one of its tributaries, a rail road which has recently been surveyed, will be conveyed to the same point, the agricultural and mineral wealth of an extensive region, and will return to it the merchandise which it will consume.

It is ascertained that the travel last year between Charleston and Savannah, and the northern cities alone, amounted to between 50 and 60,000 passengers. The contemplation of this great number is alone sufficient to convey to us some idea of the multitudes who throng to the north from the vast regions of the south and west, the greater part of whom, undoubtedly, would prefer to travel by rail roads, and who, as I have shown, would be conducted by them directly towards your road. Whether, on arriving at the Roanoke River, the choice being before them of the route by Richmond and Potomac Creek, by Norfolk and the Chesapeake Bay, to the Frenchtown Rail Road, or of your road by the bay and peninsula, is a question, which the friends of the Eastern Shore Rail Road will willingly leave to the decision of the traveller. That the general preference would be given to the conveyance by rail roads over that by sea, or by the Mississippi and Ohio rivers during the boat-
ing season, or to the mountain roads at any season, cannot admit of doubt.

I have not yet arranged the data by which may be shown the great advantage which the road offers for the rapid transmission of intelligence, and its consequent connection with the transportation of the mail. What I have already said, while speaking of the experimental survey and of the grades, is, however, sufficient to enable the Commissioners to perceive the necessary connection which it must have with this source of revenue.

Situated as the south-western terminus of the line is, in a climate comparatively mild, the navigation of the waters near it, are rarely closed, and never certainly so much obstructed by ice as to present serious difficulty in keeping it free to vessels arriving on our coast, especially from the south, and destined for a port inaccessible by reason of the inclemency of the season, Tangier sound and the neighboring waters, always easy of access and safe, offer sufficient harbors and anchorages in near connection with the road, and capable of being brought in direct contact with it. The advantage, therefore, which it presents of an occasional winter-harbor for merchant vessels, and the facilities which the road presents for the conveyance of their cargoes to their proper destination, are, I conceive, of no inconsiderable importance, viewed either in relation to the interest of the Eastern Shore, or to those of the commercial cities of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Wilmington.

I have already, gentlemen, exceeded the limits which I had assigned to this letter and must, very reluctantly, pass over a branch of the subject not less interesting, nor less fruitful of mutual advantages than those I have already spoken of; I mean the benefit which this improvement is likely to receive from, and to confer upon the country through which it is proposed to carry it -- its connection with the agricultural improvement, and the general amelioration of the condition of the peninsula. These and other topics must be reserved as subjects to be considered in a general report hereafter to be furnished.

The plans and profiles of the ground, and of the several parts of the work, and the details of the estimates, are already prepared in the rough form, and will be in readiness to accompany my report, on which also some considerable progress has been made should it be in my power, as it has been certainly my desire to complete it. Of this, however, I have no expectation, as I am under orders which separate me from this duty, the moment my health is sufficiently re-established to permit me to travel. The general report which may be somewhat voluminous, and will embrace much detail, will necessarily occupy some time in its preparation; but it can be ready quite soon enough for any purpose for which the Commissioners may have occasion to use it.

It has been my intention also to give plans and estimates for the eastern line as far as it has been surveyed, and of the route which, on separating from the one on which the annexed abstract of estimate is founded, at or near the right bank of Sassafras River, would cross Back Creek at Chesapeake City, and pursue thence the most favorable ground, would cross Big Elk River, at or immediately west of Elkton.

The survey of the ground over which the Branch Road, south of Princess Anne, leading to the Virginia line, with the intention of uniting hereafter with the Virginia Road to Cherry Stone, has been completed so far as the compass work applied to it. We are, therefore, enabled to assume the length of the branch, and this, together with the striking resemblance which much of it bears to the ground over which the leveling was carried for the location of the main stem near Princess Anne, enables me to give an approximate estimate for this branch, and which will be sent to the commissioners whenever they may desire it.

The lateral roads contemplated to be surveyed under the resolution of your Legislature, No. 108, it has as yet been impracticable to survey, but their location, I presume, will be made at as early a period as possible.

I have the honor to be,

Very respectfully,

Gentlemen, your obedient servant,

JAMES KEARNEY.

Abstract of an estimate of the coast of the main stem of the Eastern Shore Rail Road, of 118 1/4 miles long, and of the coast of a steam boat line from its south-western termination, near Tangier Sound, 85 miles to Portsmouth, in Virginia.

November 10, 1836.